At Braishfield Primary School our intent is to create lifelong mathematicians who have the vital skills and confidence to continue learning long after they leave us. Our aim is for all children to enjoy mathematics and have a secure and deep understanding of fundamental mathematical concepts and procedures when they leave us to go to secondary school.

In order to implement this, we have developed and continue to adapt a vibrant maths curriculum that inspires curiosity, enables our children to aspire for more, and supports them in becoming resilient learners. We follow suggested guidance from the Hampshire Maths Team and use a phased approach to the teaching of objectives, reviewing children's progress against these at key points in the academic year.

At the heart of our teaching and learning is a consistent Concrete, Pictorial, Abstract (CPA) approach which starts at the very beginning of every child’s learning journey in EYFS. Our commitment to the CPA approach at Braishfield Primary School helps our children achieve confidence in fluency and develop a mastery understanding across all operations in an efficient, reliable and consistent way.  Please take a look at our CPA Progression document below, for more information. We also engage our children in problem-solving activities that encourage deep thought, calculation, re-calculation and dialogue between both pupils and teachers.  Our children become confident in their approach to maths by providing them with key skills, but we also want them to be enthusiastic learners that understand the importance of mistakes.  We want our children to know that this is part of the mathematical process, and for them to be able to reflect back upon just how successful they have been. For maths to be its most enjoyable, we have to experience getting it wrong, or not knowing how to do it, before we get it right - this is where the most satisfaction and confidence is obtained. We encourage children to cross out mistakes with one line, rather than rub these out, to help cement this understanding, and support our children in embracing the importance of being resilient and curious in our approach to maths. Their use of self-reflection during and after tasks (in purple pen) also help us with our continuous assessment for learning; leading to a more personalised and targeted learning journey based upon  both confidence and understanding.

The impact of our curriculum is that it develops confident and competent mathematicians who can apply their skills out of context; meaning that they understand what they are asked to do, and explore a range of ways to find a solution, as opposed to just understanding how to get the answer correct. Our children will make targeted progress in maths, and consolidate key skills that will help them to reach their targets year on year.

Support for Parents/Carers

Many parents often ask which methods we use in school to add, subtract, multiply and divide. Please have a look at our Calculation Progression document below which might help. We explain this practically through parent/carer maths workshops as well as in informal conversations. If you are still unsure, please don't hesitate to ask your child's class teacher - we would be delighted to help.

We know that our children learn best when they are inspired, engaged and motivated. To achieve this, our teachers draw upon a range of support documents that collectively form the framework and foundation of how we teach maths at Braishfield.

Please don't hesitate to ask your child's class teacher for further support - we would be delighted to help.